Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. Makes New $2.11 Million Investment in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO)

Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 9,701 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,110,000. Lincoln Electric makes up approximately 2.2% of Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Lincoln Electric by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 181,094 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,381,000 after buying an additional 4,770 shares in the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Lincoln Electric during the 4th quarter valued at $13,377,000. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 361,637 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $78,642,000 after purchasing an additional 8,223 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 59,080.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 23,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,303,000 after purchasing an additional 23,632 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 76.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 12,092 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,630,000 after purchasing an additional 5,220 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LECO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $232.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Lincoln Electric from $239.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Monday, January 8th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $178.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln Electric from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $210.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of Lincoln Electric stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 22,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,554,575.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Lincoln Electric news, SVP Geoffrey P. Allman sold 3,306 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.33, for a total value of $834,202.98. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,150 shares in the company, valued at $2,308,819.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Gabriel Bruno sold 12,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.95, for a total transaction of $3,178,719.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 22,402 shares in the company, valued at $5,554,575.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

NASDAQ LECO traded down $0.93 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $238.00. The company had a trading volume of 47,443 shares, compared to its average volume of 274,355. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market cap of $13.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $248.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $217.53. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $155.21 and a fifty-two week high of $261.13.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $2.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. Lincoln Electric had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 45.09%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.94 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, March 31st were given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. Lincoln Electric’s dividend payout ratio is 30.31%.

About Lincoln Electric

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells welding, cutting, and brazing products worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Americas Welding, International Welding, and The Harris Products Group. It offers brazing and soldering filler metals, arc welding equipment, plasma and oxyfuel cutting systems, wire feeding systems, fume control equipment, welding accessories, and specialty gas regulators, and education solutions, as well as a portfolio of automated solutions for joining, cutting, material handling, module assembly, and end of line testing, as well as involved in brazing and soldering alloys, and in the retail business in the United States.